


In Time

by Grinner_H



Series: Soulmates [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 11:22:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8622703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grinner_H/pseuds/Grinner_H
Summary: For this prompt : Your clock is a countdown of how long you and your soulmate have left to find each other or else you both will die, and if you find your soulmate, you get to live longer (selected by Ash from Soulmate AU Story Ideas).





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ashida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashida/gifts).



> For this prompt : _Your clock is a countdown of how long you and your soulmate have left to find each other or else you both will die, and if you find your soulmate, you get to live longer_ (selected by **[Ash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashida)** from **[Soulmate AU Story Ideas](https://silentpeaches.tumblr.com/post/125291322610/soulmate-au-story-ideas)** ).

When Viktor is six, he notices them for the first time. 

Emerald lines he'd swear were never there before, stretching from just beneath his antecubital fossa to his wrist. Numbers that glow in the dark like a warning, like a death sentence upon his pale, pale skin.

Viktor doesn't often remember much, but he knows that he'll always remember this.

 _21 : 06 : 17 : 08 : 37 : 24_ and counting.

Seconds, then minutes, then hours, slipping away from him like missed opportunities, like age-old memories.

Viktor Nikiforov is six when he realizes that he may never live to see thirty.

—

When Georgi casually inquires about his _prospects,_ Viktor abruptly pulls his sleeve down over the green markings and smiles. _Lies._

He tries not to think about love. 

Tries to ignore the envy that eats away at him like cancer when he spots the time upon Georgi's arm that's more than double his own.

He is fourteen years old. Viktor realizes that life is, more often than not, _unfair._

—

He starts thinking about life in a series of numbers. 

It takes nine brush strokes to style his hair just right. Forty-seven minutes to memorize all the lines in Andrew Shepherd's speech. Sixty-two seconds before he forgets them. 

Fifteen bites to finish a Reuben sandwich. Eleven if it's salmon and cream cheese.

Three and a half seconds before the stoplights switch from amber to red. Four flickers before his bedside lamp dies out. _Blink, blink, blink._

Viktor counts all his first words of the day.

He is eighteen years and five months when he starts counting all his last ones too.

—

Time passes. The numbers emblazoned upon his skin steadily decrease. Sand in an hourglass. 

Viktor is twenty-three when he thinks that he should stop caring.

—

 _00 : 00 : 00 : 00 : 02 : 47_ and counting.

Viktor rests his head against the rough bark of a tall tree. Above him, the leaves are red and gold, like falling fire. He catches a drifting one between his fingers. Thinks that maybe, this isn't such a bad way to die.

He hears the crunch of dry leaves and earth beneath hurried footfalls. Looks up to see sneakered feet, lean legs, a slender build, and a determined face. A man who's passing him by and Viktor doesn't think much of it till it _happens._

The numbers on his arm that are rapidly increasing. His heart that's sped up, so quick that Viktor's lost count of its beats. 

And he's running, grabbing the passing stranger by the hand. 

The man startles, dark brown eyes going wide behind blue-rimmed glasses, beneath messy black bangs. His mouth falls open in obvious shock. His gaze falls upon their linked hands. 

Viktor follows that gaze. To his iron grip around the man's fingers. To the rapidly climbing numbers imprinted upon the stranger's forearm that match his own. 

_Time,_ and counting.

"Katsuki Yuuri," the stranger offers, flustered. His shy smile is the most striking, breath-stealing thing Viktor has ever seen.

Viktor Nikiforov is twenty-seven and eternal when he falls in love.


End file.
